Formerly mocked for its resemblance to a penis, People’s Daily HQ finally gets respect it deserves

After years of mockery and innuendo, the designers behind Beijing’s People’s Daily headquarters have finally had their stroke of design genius validated.Back in 2013, residents and netizens noticed that the under-construction HQ had a noticeably phallic design:In response to criticism, the architect behind the building spoke up to say that the finished product would not look like a giant golden penis torpedoing towards the sky.“This is a coincidence between the angle and this particular stage of construction, I never thought the scaffolds on top of the building would last for so long,” said architect Zhou Qi in a China Daily report. “Now combined with the sexual connotation and the newly launched iPhone 5S, it’s totally understandable why people are so excited about it.”And Zhou was true to his word, once fully erect, the architectural marvel looked much less like a penis; however, it has had trouble shaking its phallic reputation.Until now! People’s Daily broke the news earlier today that the People’s Daily headquarters has been won an A’Design Award for its “creative, contemporary and modern” design that reflects “culture AND tradition.” It was the only building in mainland to be so honored, restoring its reputation after it was inexplicably shut out of the Tall Buildings Awards earlier this year, which seemed to hand out honors to every other skyscraper in China.We can only assume that this is just the first of many more accolades to… come.If whoever votes for the A’Design Awards is reading this, we have a nomination to make. The Beijing Daxing International Airport:[Images via CCTV]